We had a few light showers in our southwestern counties in the last 24 hours (See map below). Another chance of light rain will come tomorrow.

Tonight will be mostly cloudy with no precipitation. A cold front is forecast to cross the area Tuesday with a chance of showers in the morning. The wind will switch to the northwest after the front passes. Some gusts could be up around 25 mph. Here is the position of the front at noon Tuesday:

The amount of rain will be very light. If you do get rain the amounts will be less than 0.10″.

So with that in mind here is the planner for Tuesday (Election Day).

High pressure will provide us with sunshine and a light wind Wednesday and Thursday.

Friday the wind will increase from the south as the clouds increase. There is a chance of showers as a cold front approaches from the northwest. The front will stall across Iowa and transition into a warm front as low pressure develops over Kansas and Nebraska.

The wind will be strong from the south on Saturday pushing high temperatures into the 60s. The low will track northeast and be in south central Canada by Sunday morning with the cold front in far eastern Iowa. The cold front will bring a chance of showers/storms mainly Saturday night.

Sunday will be colder with clouds and scattered rain showers. As the first low moves northeast another low develops south of Iowa and is forecast to track northeast into northern Illinois Monday morning. At this point there will be cold enough air in place for the precipitation to be in the form of snow across eastern Iowa. Yes I said snow. All the details about the snow are sketchy this far out in time. At this time I don’t know how much and where and that is if the low stays on track. It is just something I will be tracking for the next 7 days. Here is the GFS model for Monday morning.

From NWS
1959: An early general snowfall of an inch or more affected most of Iowa on November 4-5. The heaviest snow fell in northwestern Iowa with reported two-day snowfall amounts including 7.4 inches at Sioux City, 7.0 inches at Cherokee, 6.0 inches at Hawarden and Saratoga, 5.2 inches at Lake Park, and 5.0 inches at Emmetsburg and Pocahontas. Additional statewide snowfalls followed on the 12th-13th and 25th-26th and the month finished as one of the coldest Novembers on record in Iowa.

This Day in National/World Weather History …

5 November 1987 → Flash floods stranded 8,000 people in Death Valley National Park in southern California as more than an inch of rain fell, washing out many roads.

5 November 1991 → Typhoon Thelma was one of the most devastating tropical systems to affect the Philippines in the 20th Century. Reports indicated that 6000 people died by catastrophic events including dam failure, landslides, and extensive flash flooding. The highest casualties occurred on Leyte Island where widespread logging in recent years had stripped the hills above the port city bare of vegetation.

5 November 2002 → Alabama’s perfect record for the year was spoiled when two fatalities occurred in Abbeville because of a tornado. Five days later, a larger tornado outbreak killed 12 people in the state.